the question is, is the manager really the problem at fenway? it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm willie geist. this is "way too early." a show that expects a big bump in the polls after the strong debate it had with itself in the foggy bathroom mirror this morning. thank you for joining us. you can always e-mail me. you can tweet me @williegeist. tell me why you're up at this hour on a friday. or you can do what sam bradford does and text the word awake with your response. we'll read the best responses later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this friday, october 5th. a lot to tell you about, including high alert along the border of turkey and syria, where syrian forces shelled a turkish town, killing civilians. we'll have a live report for the latest there.

plus, stephen colbert celebrates mitt romney's debate performance with a dance party. we'll have that clip a little later in the show. first, let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. here at 30 rock in new york city. we begin on the trail. another day of campaigning today in the three battleground states. this morning, both candidates begin the day with stops in virginia. from there it'sn n tn t on to the president while mitt romney heads to florida. this morning's jobs report will set the tone. we'll have them live for you on "morning joe." it's the second to last jobs report before the november election. economists expecting about 113,000 jobs added. the unemployment rate to hover around the current 8.1%. after wednesday night's debate, which drew more than 70 million

viewers, large crowds awaited both candidates on the trail. president obama greeted by 30,000 in madison, wisconsin, came out ready to fight back and showed the fire he was lacking in denver. >> when i got on the stage, i met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be mitt romney. but i know it couldn't have been mitt romney because the real mitt romney's been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. yet, the fellow on the stage last night, who looked like mitt romney, said he did not know anything about that. but i just want to make sure i got this straight. he'll get rid of regulations on wall street, but he's going to crack down on "sesame street." thank goodness somebody's finally cracking down on big bird. who knew he was responsible for all these deficits. >> mitt romney picked up the endorsement of the national rifle association earlier in the

day yesterday. had some swagger as he walked on stage last night in fisherville, virginia. >> now, last night was an important night for the country because people got the -- [ cheers and applause ] they got the chance to cut through all the attacks and counterattacks and all of the theatrics associated with the campaign. instead, they were able to listen to substance. i appreciate the fact that jim lehrer asked questions of substance and we each responded to them. i got the chance to ask the president questions people across the country wanted to ask him. such as, why did he push obamacare when we had 23 million people out of work? >> and last night, mitt romney was asked how he would have responded had the president brought up his hidden camera

remarks about the 47%. >> well, clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you're going to say something that doesn't come out right. in this case, i said something that's completely wrong. i absolutely believe, however, that my life has shown that i care about 100%. and that's been demonstrated throughout my life and this whole campaign is about the 100%. when i become president, it will be about helping the 100%. >> during wednesday night's debate, mitt romney forcefully defended his tax plan, rejecting the president's claim that his proposal would ultimately raise the tax burden on the middle class. romney has called for cutting income tax rates across the board by 20%, a move some analysts say would cost $5 trillion over a decade. but romney repeatedly rejected that assertion when it was raised by president obama, vowing instead to make up the lost revenue through scaled back loopholes and the elimination of

deductions. romney campaign has released an ad claiming it's the president who would increase taxes on the middle class. >> who will raise taxes on the middle class? according to an independent, nonpartisan study, barack obama and the liberals will raise taxes on the middle class by $4,000. the same organization says the plan from mitt romney and common sense conservatives is not a tax hike on the middle class. want proof? read the nonpartisan study for yourself at american.com. obama and his liberal allies, we can't afford four more years. i'm mitt romney. i approved this message. >> well, yesterday campaigning in council bluffs, iowa, vice president joe biden shot back saying the obama plan would raise taxes but not on the middle class. >> on top of the $1 trillion in spending we've already cut, we're going to ask, yes, we're going to ask the wealthy to pay more. my heartbreaks.

come on. [ applause ] you know the phrase they always use, "obama and biden want to raise taxes by $1 trillion." guess what? yes, we do, in one regard. we want to let that $1 trillion tax cut expire so the middle class doesn't have to bear burden of all that money going to the super wealthy. that's not a tax raise. that's called fairness where i come from. >> vice president biden, congressman paul ryan are prepping if for their own debate next thursday at center college in danville, kentucky. the united nations security council is condemning the shelling by syrian forces in a turkey down that killed women and children. turkey's military responded with artillery fire, raising the prospect of a wider conflict between the two nations. syria remains locked in a brutal civil war that's killed an

estimated 30,000 people since march of last year. for more on this potentially explosive situation along the border, we turn to nbc's amon. he's live on the phone from turkey. reset this story for us, if you would, this morning. what happened initially, and where are we now? >> reporter: well, it began on wednesday afternoon when the syrian military essentially fired on this town that was on the syrian side of the border, but according to some, they overshot. one of the mortars landed in the turkish town on the turkish side of the fence. it landed on a house killing a woman, her three children, and an additional woman who was nearby. that sent turkish military into a heightened state of alert. they went into crisis mode. the turkish military fired back artillery rounds into syria, at syrian military positions. according to at least one human rights organization, they killed several syrian soldiers.

later on thursday, the turkish parliament convened in an emergency session. they authorized the turkish prime minister to have the power to deploy forces, ground forces, and whatever other military forces he needs to carry out operations inside syria. now, the turkish political establishment is saying this is not a declaration of war, but they are having the right to go inside syria to carry out these attacks. >> my goodness. thank you so much for your reporting along the border. stay safe there. thanks very much. it's been 23 days now since the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya that killed four americans. now for the first time, an fbi team is finally on scene to investigate. the investigators sent to libya in the wake of the attack. because of security concerns, they didn't go to benghazi until yesterday. so under heavy security, the team reportedly spent about 13 hours on site collecting evidence. since last month's attack, a number of news outlets discovered sensitive documents

at the compound themselves, including a journal belong together late ambassador chris stevens. attorney general eric holder says the probe has been active for weeks. just this morning, turkish media reports that two suspects have been detained in connection with the killing of ambassador stevens. nbc news has not independently confirmed that story. later this morning, the september jobs report will be released. it will reportedly be better than august. let's go to jeff live in london. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. the problem is, the economy's just not adding jobs fast enough. we might see 118,000. that seems to be the consensus. but you know what? you need at least 125,000 to

keep the equalibrium in the economy. this economy needs to find another 4.7 million jobs. that just isn't happening fast enough. that is a big deadweight around obama's neck when it comes to this election race here. probably just worth reflecting on why the federal reserve has said it is going to continue buying mortgage backed securities to the tune of $40 billion a month. it is all about that jobs number, and the fed's commitment to help the government try and get americans back to work here. worth also saying that even though they are optimistic about an improvement in this jobs number, the fed's own economic outlook suggests that we're going to see a few weak quarters going forward, and economic growth doesn't really start to get traction until 2013 into

2015. so we could be treading water for quite some time here. interesting to see what that now means for obama's election campaign as we come up to this big presidential vote. back to you. >> and we will see that number less than three hours from now, the september jobs report. geoff, thanks so much. still ahead this morning on "way too early," a little thursday night football for you with the undefeated arizona cardinals taking on the rams. turns out when your quarterback is sacked eight times, it bodes poorly for your chances. highlights ahead in sports. plus -- >> there is no red america! there is no blue america! there is only the america that can't. believe how bad this guy did in the debate. >> john stewart's postmortem of president obama's performance at the denver debate. that clip and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back.

i have as much experience in the congress as jack kennedy did when he sought the presidency. >> senator, i served with jack kennedy. i knew jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. [ mother ] you can't leave the table

till you finish your vegetables. [ clock ticking ] [ male announcer ] there's a better way... v8 v-fusion. vegetable nutrition they need, fruit taste they love. could've had a v8... 5:45 in the morning as we look at a beautiful live picture of new york city from the top of our building looking south. now we're looking east. first south then east. bill karins with a look at the first. >> today's a sad day. last day for our jean shorts and tank tops. >> i never say that. >> you keep them out all year? >> indian summer is a great time for jean shorts. >> yes, they are. good morning, everyone. if you're on the east coast, a little taste of summer today.

this will be about it. temperatures will come crashing down over the weekend. it's going to be 80 degrees in many areas, even up into new england, which is rare for this time of year. middle of the country has cooled down. a few showers today in illinois. by the time we get to sunday, the cool air in the middle of the country just sweeps to the eastern seaboard. unfortunately a little storm will develop in the mid-atlantic. we expect a rainy, cool day from southern new england down through the mid-atlantic region along the coast. in other words, if you have weekend plans, try to get them outdoors on saturday. sunday may not be the nicest from areas from washington, d.c. up to boston. so the forecast for today, very warm and beautiful on the east coast. just a few showers in the middle of the country. chilly in the plains, even into saturday. saturday is the transition day in new england. maybe a few showers. really, it's going to be sunday that all the sudden we go from 80s to mid-50s and rainy and cloudy. big changes coming. >> in the span of two days, 81

to 58. thanks so much. let's turn to sports now. the arizona cardinals have been one of the best early season stories in the nfl. off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1974. trying to keep their record perfect against the rams in st. louis last night. first possession for st. louis, sam bradford drops back with a man in his face. beautiful catch. that's nice. hauls it in with one hand. 44 yards. good coverage on the play. he just makes a beautiful catch. that sets up bradford's seven-yard touchdown pass to lance rekendricks. this time on defense. kevin kolb planted by robert quinn. one of three sacks for quinn last night. the rams did sack kolb nine times in the game. rams up 10-3. bradford scanning, scanning. finds a wide open chris gibbons for the touchdown. the rookie strolls in 51 yards. bradford only completed seven passes in the game.

two of them went for touchdowns. that one put the rams up 17-3. that would be the final. cardinals unable to muster any offense at all. they fall to 4-1. rams now above the .500 mark at 3-2. texas and falcons now the nfl's only undefeated teams. in baseball, where in perhaps the least surprising move of the season, bobby valentine was let go from the red sox after one season as manager. not a lot of cards in the deck for bobby, granted. their record, 69-93. the worst since 1965. gave the red sox their first last place finish in the division since john henry and tom warner took over ownership 11 years ago. valentine sparred with everyone from players to reporters. he now has the distinction of being the first red sox manager fired after one since since 1934 when bucky harris was let go.

yesterday reporters caught up with valentine in the midst of a long bike ride he was taking after the news broke. true story. >> i'm disappointed, yeah. you know, this is not -- this is not the press conference i was expecting at the end of the season. >> how much are you going to miss the organization? >> oh, there are a lot of great guys. i've gotten texts from many of them already today. i'm sure i'm still going to be with them, at least in their hearts and minds. a lot of things didn't go well, but an experienced manager is supposed to put his finger in the dike and keep the water on the other side, you know. i just missed that. >> espn is reporting that according to sources within the boston organization, the red sox are looking at blue jays manager john farrell as valentine's successor. he served as the pitching coach from 2006 to 2010. coming up at the top of the hour, a day after his lackluster debate performance, president

obama holds a rock star rally for 30,000 fans in wisconsin. this as mitt romney tries to turn a single night's work into a turning point in the election. we'll discuss it all. when we come back here, we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch stephen colbert celebrate mitt romney's debate win with a big old studio rave. "way too early" coming right back. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

we told you the top of the show that the fight over tax plans has become a central issue in the presidential campaign in part because of the looming fiscal cliff that faces the country at the end of this year. that includes an expiration of the bush era tax cuts. congress is expected to delay voting on some of the fiscal issues until 2013, leaving whomever is elected on november 6th to deal with the problem. according to the tax policy center, if no changes are made to the budget to alleviate the fiscal cliff measures, taxes are rise in 2013 by an average of $3500 per household for 90% of americans. the 2013 federal budget expected to result in a $900 billion deficit. all right. enough of the real news. let's huddle around the water cooler to see how john stewart worked through the denver debate. >> there is no red america! there is no blue america! there is only the america that

can't believe how bad this guy did in the debate. obama lost despite mitt romney doing this. >> i'm sorry, jim. i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs. i'm going to stop other things. i like pbs. i like big bird. i actually like you too. i'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow from china to pay for it. >> mother [ bleep ] fired big bird! romney could have water boarded aladdin, put down blue, deported dora the explorer, and still won walking away. romney won with the sound up. >> you're entitled, as a president, to your own airplane and house, but not to your own facts. >> romney won with the sound off. dude, he's yelling at you. look up! look up! what are you looking at? what are you writing that's so important? what are you doing? oh, that's nice. i didn't realize. that is impressive work. i didn't realize that.

maybe you could give that to mitt romney as a souvenir of night he crushed you in that debate. >> that is some nice work. stephen colbert dancing with "glee" last night. can we listen to this? here's colbert coming into the studio after the romney debate performance. ♪ really feeling it with colbert. he zeroed in on the tax plan romney laid out. the proposal was a bit difference from the one prom romney previously pitched on the trail. >> before the debate, mitt's campaign said, romney will come across as empathetic. but here's what mitt's been promising for the last two years. tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. how do you make that seem warm and fuzzy? you just need to shake it up as hard as mitt did last night.

so let's give it a shot. okay. [ cheers and applause ] now let's see what mitt's tax plan looks like now. here you go. presto chango. now you see romney's policies, now you don't. >> how does he do it? still ahead on "way too early," why are you awake? your magical tweets, texts, and e-mails. "morning joe" moments away.

up. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again.

we asked you at the top of the show what you're doing this hour. john tower, what are you doing? >> i have nicholas. he's in london, england.